To: Jose Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission

Demands, challenges and opportunities for children in the EU Budget

Dear President Barroso,

14 October 2011

Following the adoption of the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) by the European Commission I write to you to underline the importance of this EU budget and the weight of your decisions with regard to children in Europe.

Eurochild is a network of organisations working for the rights and welfare of children and young people in Europe. Ahead of the high-level conference on 20-21 October that will celebrate the launch of the inter- institutional debate on the future of the EU Budget, Eurochild has developed a set of recommendations for the next multiannual financial framework.

Taking the Commission’s MFF proposal as a basis, Eurochild identified the following priorities from the view of child well-being and children’s rights regarding the next EU Budget:

1. Children’s rights need to be mentioned explicitly and mainstreamed in a holistic way across policy areas in the next MFF.

2. A specific children’s budget line should be created, based on Article 3 of the Lisbon Treaty that ensures the promotion and implementation of children’s rights in the EU.

3. The fight against poverty and social exclusion needs to be a clear priority within the Budget 2020 and appropriate resource allocation has to be ensured to support the European Platform against Poverty.

4. The role of European civil society networks working towards the promotion and protection of children’s rights and well-being needs to be acknowledged and the next budget needs to be sustained for core funding of their operation.

5. The use of structural funds needs to have as a target to further early childhood education and care, as part of a broader European policy framework linking labour market policies, family- related leave, family support policies and formal education systems.

6. Eligibility of EU funding for de-institutionalisation needs to be ensured and safeguards put in place that it does not finance institutional child care but rather community-based and family care which includes the promotion of more progressive social services and social protection.

7. Macroeconomic conditionalities should not prevent European structural funds from reaching those most in need.

8. Stronger involvement of civil society is needed in the allocation of structural funds at national level through Partnership Agreements. Eurochild is convinced that the participation of children and young people at the local, regional and national level is one of the important components of tackling child poverty.

I sincerely hope you and your colleagues will take the rights and welfare of children and young people into account in the upcoming negotiations.

Allow me to draw your attention to Eurochild’s policy position on the Budget for Europe 2020 including detailed recommendations.

Yours sincerely,

Mieke Schuurman Eurochild Acting Secretary-General